[a fool in paradise]

You may be onto something there, additionally they split the summer and winter olympics into two different schedules for ratings/$$$.

How can you miss it when it never goes away?

[wagglebee]

The irony with the winter Olympics is that much of the world (including nearly all of the US) truly only cares about a handful of sports: men's hockey, figure skating (which is really no different from the World Figure Skating Championship held every year), downhill skiing and snowboarding.

The other HUGE problem with the Olympics these days is internet spoilers when time differences come into play. Thirty years ago you could watch an event recorded twelve hours before, but unless you had access to an AP newswire or something similar you had no way of knowing the outcome. Today, you go to check your email and the headlines are already up. It's not a lot of fun to watch an event when you already know the outcome, especially when the team/person you wanted to win doesn't.